Monday, December 14, 2009

Puran is a Subdivision and a tehsil of Shangla District, North-West Frontier Province NWFP, Pakistan. The subdivision includes three tehsils viz: Puran itself, Makhuzai and Martung.

Major towns/villages of the tehsil are Aloch, Nimkalay, Chagam, Sandovi, Sanila, Bengalai,Kotakay/Kolalai and many more. Aloch is the central town and is the tehsil and subdivision headquarter.

Puran is a green valley and has fantastic scenic beauty. The name Puran is derived from the Hindi word Pooran which means full moon. Residents of Puran believe that the name is probably because of the great natural beauty of the valley.

Puran Tehsil has a population of more than 90000 people. Literacy rate in Puran is about 10% for male and 5% for female. People mainly live on farming and grow three major crops namely wheat, maize and rice. Fruits and vegetables are also grown but not on commercial scale.

Agriculture in Puran depends on rains and no proper irrigation system exists in the valley. However, the valley gets enough precipitation and the crops are seldom effected due to no or less rains. Rice fields are irrigated from natural springs and rivers. Puran is rich in small rivers and natural springs and underground water is a few meters from the earth surface in Aloch. Most of the people in Puran belong to the sub-sect Babozai of the major tribe Yousafzai. Most of the people in Puran belong to the sub-sect Babozai of the major tribe Yousafzai.A few sub sections of the same tribe mainly known as Addo khel, Musa khel, Barat khel, Nanggir khel Aba khel, Hassan khel, etc.People of Puran are famous for their moral values and hospitality.

In the Government of Swat Wali (Ruler) some famous Khans were Shah Baros Khan, Faiz Muhammad Khan, Kand Khan, Fujoon khan etc.

Soil of Puran has borne some famous Politicians like Pir Muhammad Khan, Engr. Amir Muqam, Fazlullah MPA, Dr.Ibadullah District Nazim Shangla, Muhammad Ali Khan Tehsil Nazim Puran Muhammad Zahid Khan U.C Nazim Aloch etc. Pir Muhammad Khan originally belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami, a religious political party of Pakistan. He was elected as member of the NWFP provincial assembly in general elections of 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997 and 2002. In 1997 he did not follow the decision of his party to boycott the general elections and ran the election as independent candidate. After his success, he joined the government and became minister. The party leaders expelled him from Jamaat-e-Islami. Before elections 2002, he was succeeded to get back membership of the party and contested elections again from Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) as his party was one of the major parties in the Alliance named MMA. The party, however, did not give him any prominent role in the government despite being the senior parliamentarian of the ruling party. Pir Muhammad Khan was killed in a terrorist attack at the residence of Engr. Amir Muqam in November 2007 at Peshawar.

Engr. Amir Muqam was elected as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2002 on MMA seat, but he soon joined Pakistan Muslim League (Q), which was the ruling party at that time. He was succeeded to become federal minister and the provincial president of his new party PML(Q). He elected as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan again in 2008 on PML(Q) seat from NA-31 Shangla. Dr. Ibadullah is the younger brother of Engr. Amir Muqam and is presently the District Nazim (Chief) of Shangla.